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Will the 49ers Trade Brandon Aiyuk to the Raiders for Davante Adams?

This rumor makes a ton of sense.

Grant Cohn

Dec 14, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) smiles after the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) smiles after the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports / Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
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Brandon Aiyuk requested a trade yesterday and the Las Vegas Raiders are rumored to be interested in acquiring him from the 49ers.

This rumor makes a ton of sense. If the 49ers trade Aiyuk, they have to trade him for a player, because a pick wouldn't help them this season. Preferably, the 49ers would trade Aiyuk for a wide receiver. And Aiyuk and Adams are extremely similar players. Adams arguably is better, but he'll turn 32 this season. And he desperately wants off the Raiders.

Adams definitely would be happier on the 49ers considering he's miserable in Las Vegas and he's from East Palo Alto. And Aiyuk seemingly would be happier on any team that pays him what he wants and features him in the offense.

The 49ers' Super Bowl might even get better this season if they were to trade Aiyuk for Adams. And Adams would be a bargain -- his salary would be less than $17 million for 2024. Then in 2025, his salary balloons to almost $36 million, but it's not guaranteed, so the 49ers can release him or restructure his contract. They'd have tons of options.

If the 49ers can't get Aiyuk to agree to an extension, trading him for a three-time All Pro wide receiver who actually wants to play for the 49ers would seem like the best option. Forcing Aiyuk to stay on the 49ers and play out his fifth-year option could hurt the morale of a team that's already reeling from its second Super Bowl loss.

Perhaps a trade could motivate them.

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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